Blogs from Mediterranean, Turkey, Middle East - page 37

Finalement, le bus pour Istanbul n'aura pris que 15 heures pour se rendre à destination! C'est donc tout pimpant que nous sommes arrivés dans la ville mythique. Anciennement connue sous les noms de Byzance et Constantinople, la mégapole de 15 millions d'habitants nous a laissé une impression étrange. Il faut dire qu'elle est divisée en deux partie, d'un coté l'Europe et de l'autre coté du Bosphore, l'Asie. Egalement, le fait que la ville soit un mélange de plus d'une culture, plus d'un style architecturale et plus d'un mode de vie, avec les jeunes qui s'occidentalisent de plus en plus et leurs parents et grands-parents toujours ancrés dans les traditions, fait qu'Istanbul semble un peu perdue entre deux mondes. Tiraillée entre le conservatisme et le modernisme, on dirait qu'elle ne sait pas ou elle s'en va! Enfin, ... read more

No, not the Olympus that the Olympic Games stemmed from, but a lovely place on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. There are also roman ruins here (yes, they're everywhere!) but there is so much more to this place than a bit of history. It's developed into a backpacker mecca with a long, scenic dirt road lined with backpacker hostels, many of which feature treehouses to sleep in. We stayed a Kadir's, a Middle Eastern icon according to the Lonely Planet, and I can see why! In peak season it would go off, even in the quiet season as it is now it was pretty busy, and a really funky place. The treehouses and rooms were all named after various things backpackers would find familiar, I stayed in Iluru (sp? sorry Aussies) and the two that stood ... read more

Driving…………………………………Great lunch at some tiny little place high in the mountains where we watched our food being cooked on the fire………………..driving……………………… Reached Mersin, Turkey (thank god) around 8pm. The entire drive was on a two lane mountainous road with lots of trucks, the Toyota was struggling thru most of the up hill climbs. Tough drive! We all shared this driving experience. ... read more

What could be better than waking up to breakfast on the beach? We sipped our Turkish tea and planned our day while soaking up the sun and enjoying the view. We then packed up the car and drove into the town to explore Fethiye a bit before we leave. We spot some ruins carved into the mountain that bordered the back of the town. We park the car, walk up a tiny street and find some old stairs leading to right to these old structures built 6000 years ago! The view of the city and harbor below is stunning and we feel very fortunate to be the only ones in the world to be standing in this spot at this moment. After lunch and some shopping we head south toward Antalya. The drive is through the ... read more

April 9 - 10, 2008 Cirali to Kas, Turkey Today we were picked up by our guide / driver for the day trip to Kas on the coast. On our way to Kas we visited the small city of Demre and visited some interesting rock tombs and another ancient city complete with temple, amphitheater and the usual other facilities. The tombs are carved into caves on the side of a small mountain and have very beautiful “facades” on the face of the rocks to cover the front of the tombs. Our next stop was the Church of St Nicholas. YUP!!! The same St. Nicholas we know as Santa Claus. He was the bishop, of the Orthodox Church in the byzantine times, in this town about 1500 hundred years ago. Obviously the locals are taking advantage of ... read more